The District of Columbia is on-track to become the first major city in the United States to require all new large non-residential buildings to be built green. Before leaving office at the end of December, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams (D) signed the Green Building Act of 2006, which will require major private non-residential and District-owned buildings to comply with green building standards by 2012.
Much of the impact of the new legislation will be felt by commercial developers in the District. Starting in 2010, new and substantially improved commercial buildings of 50,000 sq ft or more in size will have to fulfill or exceed LEED New Construction 2.2 or LEED Core and Shell 2.0 standards.